Music News

Production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis performed their recent single with Babyface, “He Don’t Know Nothin’ Bout It,” on The Tonight Show Monday, January 18th. The performance found the celebrated musicians in an intimate studio space as they delivered the throwback slow jam with characteristic aplomb. “If you put …

Duke Bootee, the pioneering rapper who co-wrote and appeared on Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s classic “The Message” — Number One on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time — died Wednesday at the age of 69. Born Edward Fletcher, the rapper died at …

Yusuf/Cat Stevens has announced the children’s book Peace Train, out May 11th via HarperCollins. The book is in celebration of the song’s 50th anniversary; the track appeared on 1971’s Teaser and the Firecat. Yusuf has teamed up with Peter H. Reynolds for the book’s illustration. “I wrote these lyrics more …

Zayn Malik conjures crushing-out anticipation and tension between lovers in his new song “Vibez.” The single is slated to appear on the singer’s upcoming third studio album, Nobody Is Listening, which will arrive on January 15th via RCA Records. The sultry slow jam finds the R&B-pop crooner in an amorous …

We already declared Taylor Swift‘s Folklore to be the Best Album of 2020. But until now, we had yet to hear from the numbers. Now, the numbers have spoken, the data has assembled into integers and decimal points, and the answer is in: Folklore is the biggest album of 2020, …

John “Ecstasy” Fletcher, rapper and founding member of the pioneering hip-hop group Whodini, has died at the age of 56. The group’s Grand Master Dee confirmed Fletcher’s death to Variety. No cause of death was provided. News of Fletcher’s death was first revealed by the Roots’ Questlove, with many others …

Radiohead launched a series of digital holiday greeting cards via their online Public Library. Fittingly for the band responsible for “Fitter Happier,” these digital notes are more unsettling than generically festive. The outside design options are “FA LA LA,” “LA-LA,” LA, LA,” LA” and “LAA,” and the inside choices include …

Singer-songwriter Dijon has released a new song, “The Stranger,” which features a unique cast of guests including John C. Reilly and Tobias Jesso, Jr. “The Stranger” is a folk posse cut of sorts that finds Dijon and his guests — who also include Sachi DiSerafino, Dan Reeder, and Thea Gustafsson …

So, How Was Your 2020? is a series in which our favorite entertainers answer our questionnaire about the music, culture and memorable moments that shaped their year. We’ll be rolling these pieces out throughout December. Angel Olsen stripped her music down to its barest essentials on this summer’s Whole New …

Nobody, absolutely nobody, was complaining Taylor Swift didn’t inflict enough emotional brutality on us this year. But here she is and here we are. Taylor is celebrating her birthday this weekend, and she decided to turn 31 in typical Swift style — dropping her second surprise masterpiece of the year, …